Germany's Lufthansa airline became the first major European carrier Tuesday to announce that its daily flights to Tokyo will be diverted from Japan's disaster zone due to huge delays at the capital's main international airport at least through Sunday.

Pressure from China, Britain, Japan and other countries appears to have persuaded the World Health Organization to hold off on raising its pandemic alert to the highest level, despite the spread of H1N1 flu in Japan.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in Japan soared Monday to more than 130 as the government moved to shut down nearly 2,000 schools and companies discouraged unnecessary travel to quell the spread of the disease, officials said.